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Green, Sustainable, and You’ve Never Seen Anything Like It

Gran Prize Awarded 23 May

PRESS RELEASE

“Sustainability Is Everything”. This could easily be the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary’s motto for 2018, as this year, the association has awarded its sixth Gran Prize Innovative Interdisciplinary Award to outstanding industrial innovations that address the most pressing issues of our planet. Earning top honours in the competition were a waste water halogen removal solution and a unique roof-cooling technology.

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary in 2018 announced its sixth call for entries for the prize, bestowed on companies, private persons, and institutions of higher education for outstanding solutions and projects. This year’s prizes were awarded with the support of Ericsson and Sigma Technology by a judging panel that included not only noted Hungarian university professors, but also such recognised experts as futurologist Dr. Bertalan Meskó, representatives of the Hungarian National Property Office, and the managing director of Transparency International Hungary.

“The adjudication process took into account the key considerations of novelty, social responsibility, environmental awareness, and economic applicability. The grounds for our decision stem from the innovative, interdisciplinary nature of the two entries, their industrial property status, their outstanding significance to industry, and the level of social responsibility they demonstrate,” said János Takács, the president of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary.

Thus, in 2018’s spirit of sustainability, the SCCH judging panel decided that two entries should share in the prize. At the festive award ceremony held in Budapest on 23 May, each of the winners received a monetary prize, along with the Gran Prize award itself, a sculpture designed and crafted by Swedish artist Ann Lundin and Hungarian ceramic and glass artist Károly Szász. The two were also presented with pine trees donated by the Folly Arboretum to plant at their respective alma maters.

The winning entries:

The removal of organic halogen compounds from waste water

It was a decade ahead of European Union efforts that the University of Miskolc, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and EGIS Pharmaceuticals, with the collaboration of Dr. Péter Mizsey, embarked on the joint research project that would result in the development and successful implementation of this entirely new and innovative process. The novel invention permits not only the removal of halogen compounds from industrial waste water, but also the full recovery and recycling of organic halogen compounds in concentrated form, facilitating closer adherence to the principles of circular economy.

WaterFilm Technology® roof cooling

István Weeber, creator of WaterFilm Technology®, became involved with atomising sprinkler systems for flat-roofed manufacturing plants at the request of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics Thermophysics Laboratory in relation to the summer heat protection problems of a Csepel paper mill. His now-patented invention is especially relevant in that EU guidelines for 2020 prescribe an energy savings of 20%, with particular reference to the use of power for cooling and air conditioning. “WaterFilm Technology®” is the first true evaporative rooftop cooling technology based solely on the principle of heat carried away by vaporisation. The technology results in a significant savings in cooling energy and requires less water than other similar systems.

On the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary

The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (SCCH) has been active in the areas of economy, environmental protection, innovation, education, and culture, with the aim of supporting the business operations of its members in Hungary, since 1995. Its stated objectives are to foster commercial, economic, and scientific relations between Hungary and the Kingdom of Sweden, as well as to support business initiatives, promote knowledge transfer, and facilitate the business activities of its members in Hungary. The Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary boasts 86 member companies, associates, and honorary members and a total of 10,000 immediate employees.

On the Gran Prize Innovative Interdisciplinary Award

In October of 2012, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce resolved to establish a prize that would stimulate innovative thinking and bring about improvements in the general quality of human life. As an emblem for its new prize, the Chamber chose the pine tree, a popular Swedish symbol that across much of the planet, stands for Christmas and the natural environment. In Swedish, the word gran means spruce, a species of tree that brings to mind the concepts of sustainability and environmental awareness that characterise the award. The Chamber’s aim with the award is twofold: first, to support and reward outstanding achievements in innovation, and second, to advance the cause of dialogue between cultures.